BREAKING NEWS - Goncalo loses libel/damages trial and must pay damages

PAT BROWN ‏@ProfilerPatB 15h15 hours ago
Saddened, but not unexpected. It is like watching a slow train crash. Scotland Yard will follow suit. #McCann #Amaral http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-32501647 …

Mimi wrote:I. Judging remedied the representation of irregularity MADELEINE McCann BETH author in accordance with article 29, paragraph 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure and, therefore, dismiss the objection raised by the defendant GONÇALO AMARAL.


Seems the judge did not allow GA`s objection to the Ward of Court - they must have managed to get the dates sorted and the Ward to confirm somehow.

The authors have joined a certificate issued according to article 39 of Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 which shows have the "Family Division of the High Court of Justice in that country, by decision dated March 21, 2014, allowed the authors Kate and Gerald MacCann the represent the minor in procedures relating to the contents and effects of the book in question in the action and subsequent media activity with the same connection.

Mimi wrote:I. Judging remedied the representation of irregularity MADELEINE McCann BETH author in accordance with article 29, paragraph 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure and, therefore, dismiss the objection raised by the defendant GONÇALO AMARAL.


Seems the judge did not allow GA`s objection to the Ward of Court - they must have managed to get the dates sorted and the Ward to confirm somehow.

But tellingly the judge gave nothing for Madeleine. Now surely if the WOC status allowed an action to be brought on her behalf then it could be claimed she was hurt most of all. This claim was not allowed so the judge has said M was not harmed. So how come the same book and dvd harmed the parents more than it did the missing child?

Apologies if this has been posted.

http://portugalresident.com/

At least Snr Amaral hasn't lost his fighting spirit! See last paragraph.

Mo wrote:Apologies if this has been posted.

http://portugalresident.com/

At least Snr Amaral hasn't lost his fighting spirit!   See last paragraph.

Thanks Mo



Posted by portugalpress on April 28, 2015

Gonçalo Amaral ordered to pay parents of Madeleine McCann €500,000 in damages

In a court ruling that has left many in states of total disbelief, former PJ detective Gonçalo Amaral has been ordered to pay €500,000 in damages to the parents of Madeleine McCann.
The long-running civil case for defamation centring on Amaral’s book ‘The Truth of the Lie’ has finally “come to an end”, Sky News reported on Tuesday. But whether this is an end, or simply yet another lurch in the tortuous proceedings, remains to be seen.
“Mr Amaral, who led the (original) police search for the girl, can appeal the court’s ruling”, Sky concludes.
It is a verdict that has set social media alight, with comments ranging from “I love Gonçalo Amaral” to more constructive pointers on how people can donate to his legal fund.
While many are asking “how could this have happened?”, Portuguese are suggesting it “an outrageous sum” for a country where people generally don’t have that kind of money.
Added to the libel ‘win’, Amaral is understood to be facing legal charges of another €106,000.
“The court court also prohibited any more sales of the books and gave the publisher (Guerra e Paz) 60 days to return all existing copies”, Sky continued, adding that the makers of the TV documentary based on the book are now prohibited from selling any more copies of their film.
It is a far cry from the news published both in Portugal and UK in January hinting that Judge Emília Melo e Castro's “reading of the proven facts” suggested that an outright court win for the McCanns was “unlikely”.
British tabloid The Daily Express ran (belatedly) with the headline “Exclusive: McCanns will lose £1 million libel trial”.
Key points in the McCanns’ case were listed as “not proven”.
Even Amaral agreed he was cautiously optimistic.
But then came the long wait for the final verdict, and finally Tuesday’s bombshell that despite all the McCanns’ claims “not proved”, Amaral was considered to have “caused harm” to Madeleine’s parents to the extent that both are due compensation of €250,000.
Even more baffling is the fact that his book has once again been “banned”. A ban was overturned in October 2010 by Lisbon’s appeal court and though the McCann couple appealed, their appeal was overruled by the Supreme Court of Justice in 2011.
It cannot be without irony that Tuesday’s announcement has been timed to coincide almost to the day with the 8th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance from a rental apartment in Praia da Luz.
Contacted for his thoughts on the ruling, Amaral told the Resident: “We are in the face of a mere battle in a war that is far from over.”
By NATASHA DONN
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com

Mo wrote:Apologies if this has been posted.

http://portugalresident.com/

At least Snr Amaral hasn't lost his fighting spirit!   See last paragraph.

Contacted for his thoughts on the ruling, Amaral told the Resident: “We are in the face of a mere battle in a war that is far from over.”
Sorry posted same time

Markus 2 wrote:

Mo wrote:Apologies if this has been posted.

http://portugalresident.com/

At least Snr Amaral hasn't lost his fighting spirit!   See last paragraph.

Contacted for his thoughts on the ruling, Amaral told the Resident: “We are in the face of a mere battle in a war that is far from over.”
Sorry posted same time

I am dubious Mr Amaral would give any kind of statement to the press until he has had the official verdict. If he has done so he has done well to make it a very generic remark.

So GA does know.. I thought he didn't?

Sorry, struggling to catch up as mad busy at work.

So it looks like half a million euros minus 58.3% of the costs of the trial. .

Whatever remains of the  frozen assets, minus 41.7 %. Divided by the 4 defendants.

Strange that ruling about the book, film and DVD. Hoewever, these are all out of date now and I'd be surprised if a new book/DVD on the case as it stands now can be forbidden.

The book was never going to make much money after the case, almost everyone who's interested in the case has read  it and it's been available  online for free.

So it would be good to get away from that particular book altogether and bring something new out.  i doubt that TM would be advised to start yet a new libel  trial.

Looks like the cost to TM is going to be around  300.00,- euros and left is about £ 144.000,-

From the division of costs the 'frozen' money available  to the defendants would be 857.633 euros  leaving around 357.633 euros from which 41.3%  147.702 has to be paid in costs. Leaving about 210.000 between the defendants.

Might be rubbish, based on guesswork re the full amount  of frozen assets.

Tigger - my foggy brain can`t follow your maths - (my fault not yours) are you saying he will still have some money left over after they`ve taken their winnings out of his frozen assets?

X. Condemn the perpetrators KATE HEALY MARIE McCann, GERALD PATRICK McCann, MADEILENE BETH McCann, Sean Michael McCann and McCann AMELIE EVE and the defendant GONÇALO AMARAL the expense of the main action in the proportion of 58.30% for the former and 41.70% for second, in accordance with paragraph 1 of article 527 of the Civil Procedure Code.


So the children have to pay the costs . . . ? No pocket money for a bit then

PeterMac wrote:X. Condemn the perpetrators KATE HEALY MARIE McCann, GERALD PATRICK McCann, MADEILENE BETH McCann, Sean Michael McCann and McCann AMELIE EVE and the defendant GONÇALO AMARAL the expense of the main action in the proportion of 58.30% for the former and 41.70% for second, in accordance with paragraph 1 of article 527 of the Civil Procedure Code.


So the children have to pay the costs . . . ?   No pocket money for a bit then

Nice if they had spelled Madeleine`s name correctly

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

How the Ruling and the Scotland Yard Review have Nothing to Do with Madeleine

A lot of people believe that when a homicide occurs, that law enforcement and the judiciary system have a remit to pursue justice for of the victim, to do everything possible to avenge the loss of life on behalf of a person who cannot do so for himself as he is no longer on earth. I am not sure what fanciful words are used in the UK and Portugal, but when a crime occurs in the US, any effort made by police or prosecutor is done so in "the interest of the state." What exactly does that mean? Most believe that since the state represents the citizens, it must mean "in the interest of the citizens" - in the case of a homicide -  for the victim, who was a citizen, for the family who are the living victims, and the community who has a dangerous perpetrator still in their midst who may well strike again.

In reality, what this remit means is, a crime is pursued in accordance with how important it is to those in power. This does not mean that there are not detectives and prosecutors out there who are working passionately to get justice for the family and get killers off the streets; there certainly are. But, in the end, what it may come down to is how important it is to those who run the state, not the people of the state.

The more important the citizen, the more effort put into the case. The more media received, the more attention the case receives. If the truth about the crime, the criminal, or the handling of the case is damaging to the state, there may be some sort of cover-up, small or large. If it benefits the state to put someone away and close the case regardless of his guilt, so be it. If it serves the state to fudge evidence or lie, it may well be done. Why? Because there a people called politicians out there and they have the power to have things their way.

I have long tried to help people pursuing justice for Madeleine to understand that this whole case is far bigger than one little girl. It stopped being about Madeleine on May 3 because, after that, it became about the parents, the friends, the UK, Portugal, police, politicians, media, egos, careers and international political issues.

Ever since there was UK interference on a high level, it was clear this case had gone south and that there were interests to the state that had nothing to do with supporting the Portuguese police investigation. When the McCanns returned home to England and the Portuguese shelved the case, this was the second nail in the coffin of justice; it was clear the Portuguese state had some interest to protect far beyond justice for a small child. When Scotland Yard was given the green light to do the review, there were only two possible reasons; the McCanns were innocent or the McCanns and Company (whoever they were) had assurance that Scotland Yard had a remit to only address an abduction theory that was ironclad. This Scotland Yard remit was evidence that there were some interests to the state that were quite major because it was an unprecedented move to have a UK police force intervene in a case in another country that they had not been invited to participate in and to start the case by limiting, from the start, the scope of the review.

Next, we see a police force spend an insane amount of money and time and manpower on one case, a case that is unlikely to see any results if the parents were not involved, because it is a fact that, if it were not the parents' crime, then Madeleine was dead by May 4 at the hands of a pedophile and her body tossed or buried years ago; hence, Scotland Yard was not rushing in to save a life. And Scotland Yard certainly showed no urgency because they took years mulling over the files and doing god-knows-what instead of getting straight to work analyzing the crime scene and suspects and getting the job done. I have never seen a more bizarre state of affairs than watching this crack team of more than three dozen detectives use more money than than the entire annual budget for criminal investigation for some small countries in the world and come up with absolutely nothing credible in a "simple case of child abduction." Friends, this is politics, not proper police work.

And now we have the ruling. Some are already trying to see a silver lining in this catastrophic legal loss of Gonçalo Amaral; the judge disallowed certain points, the McCanns only got a partial payment, Gonçalo still has an appeal. Make no mistake, if the coffin hadn't been nailed shut with the Scotland Yard investigation, this is solid evidence that there is collusion between the Portuguese and British governments, that there was pressure on the judge to rule in favor of the McCanns and against freedom of speech in Portugal. And, in doing so, this readies the ground for the lowering of the coffin into the ground, for Scotland Yard to follow suit and declare the McCanns innocent of any wrongdoing (other than mistakenly thinking their children were safe alone in the vacation flat), to close the case with "we tried our best to cooperate with the Portuguese but we sadly can no longer spend millions on a case we cannot bring to prosecution; but we can assure the public that we know who the abductor is and he is no longer a threat to anyone as he is a) deceased or b) already in prison."

This devastating ruling pretty much puts angel wings on the backs of Kate and Gerry McCann and adorns Gonçalo Amaral with horns and a pitchfork, and gives the media yet more fodder for pro-McCannism. Since Scotland Yard has declared the McCanns are not being investigated, stated that Madeleine was abducted, and has spent years chasing one lowlife after the other and one pedophile/burglar theory after another, there is no way that Scotland Yard is suddenly going to do an about face and arrest Madeleine's parents, and if anyone thinks this is still going to happen, I have both swamp property and a London Bridge to sell you.

It hasn't been about Madeleine. It has been and is about the state. This is the way the world works. When there are no compromising issues like incompetence, misconduct or corruption, killers are caught, cases are properly closed, and the community is safer. When it goes awry for whatever reasons, the state and whoever controls it will make sure they don't go under because of one unfortunate situation.

A lot of people have not wanted to believe my take on this case. Personally, I would rather not believe my take on this case! It was my hope early on, even though I saw the early signs of political interference, that there might still be some chance of the Portuguese police reopening and solving this case properly; that they would fight back against the UK pressure. When I wrote my profile on the case and, even when I went to Portugal, I still had some very faint glimmer of this case somehow turning around. But, when Scotland Yard started in with all the suspects and digging, I knew, for sure, it was a done deal.

What has been my interest in all of this? To promote good deductive criminal profiling and proper handling of missing persons and homicide cases. I would have been ecstatic to see Scotland Yard arrest the McCanns; my profile would have been validated, I would be vindicated, and, we could have a wonderful example of a police agency willing to return to the evidence and, in spite of the unpleasant prospect of have to charge parents of a missing child with a crime, follow the evidence to the proper conclusion. Happy day!

But, this was and is not to be. From years in the trenches, I can tell you that more often than the public has any clue, justice is not served and families and professionals and future victims are often collateral damage in the quest for political expedience. In fact, I have seen cold cases more often "closed" for damage control with lies and fall guys than with truth and justice which is why I refuse to work them any more. When cases go on too long, there is often a good reason; they are broke and can't be fixed. And because things are the way they are, because the world has many good people but is not always good, I choose to do what I can that is positive and might bring the best results for the future. I prefer to focus now on training detectives in deductive criminal profiling so that they can do better analysis of their cases and prevent errors that cause them to go cold. If one can help detectives do a better job, than there it less likely that egos and politics will need to take over a case and cause its demise.

The Madeleine McCann case is truly one of the most fascinating and bizarre cases I have ever run into and it will be a case that will be discussed for many a year. Perhaps, when a few decades pass, we may learn the truth; perhaps, we never will. My hope is that we will learn the right things from this case that help illuminate some grave problems within the system, but my fear is that the politicians and the media have so obscured the truth that the general public will never get a proper understanding. Again, sadly, this is the way the world often works; history is written by the conqueror, and folks, we are not the winners here.

Peace.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

April 29, 2015
http://patbrownprofiling.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/how-ruling-and-scotland-yard-review.html

Mimi wrote:Tigger - my foggy brain can`t follow your maths - (my fault not yours) are you saying he will still have some money left over after they`ve taken their winnings out of his frozen assets?

Could be entirely wrong, but would make sense if the oer etagesof costs paid are proportional to the amounts rewarded. So insimple terms if there were one million, and the amounts to be paid in costs resp 60 and 40%
Then one party pays 60% on 600.000 and the other pays 40% over 400.000, so (i.e. 360.000 and 160.000) .

But may all work out different, in any case .

Pat Brown

 I tend to agree, with Pat Brown it is going to be sometime down the line.
  Quote My hope is that we will learn the right things from this case that help illuminate some grave problems within the system, but my fear is that the politicians and the media have so obscured the truth that the general public will never get a proper understanding. Again, sadly, this is the way the world often works; history is written by the conqueror, and folks, we are not the winners here.
I like her use of the word illuminate dropped in there.

Wonder if all their Tapas friends will now come out and say they are so so pleased for Kate and Gerry.

Pat Brown has very eloquently and politely stated the position and I fully agree with her.

It is over.

Angel wings and sofa shows await.

Can anyone enlighten please ?

The costs being discussed here are those associated with the damages trial are they not ?

There remain substantial unpaid costs associated with the original libel trial, book banning, unbanning etc.

As I remember these cost were awarded against the Mccann's but payment was deferred until this point.


Is this correct ? Are these costs different to those apportioned in the current ruling ??

We need to be careful and to go back to the original documents - as always, but here is a quick summary

2 Partly found
3 Dismissed / acquit GA
4 Fully Reject
5 Partly
6 Unfounded
7 Fully reject
8 Fully reject

so a 6:2 WIN for GA with two dodgy goals allowed

McCs to pay 58.3% of the costs,
Ga to pay 41.7 %

in the other action (Books) 50% costs GA / 50% to be be paid by the McCs AND THE TWINS ! ! !

It is not QUITE the story we are being fed by Mitchell through the MSM !

It would be interesting to see which of these "Dismissed, Unfounded, and Fully Rejected" actions involved evidence given by which person/s.
"Fully rejected" is slightly stronger than "on balance the decision is given in favour of X"
It does rather imply that someone has been playing with the Court and tinkering with the 'vérité'.

And as a retired officer GA will have been alert to any Perjury . . .

It also means he only has to Appeal against two decisions, and quantum, not the entire thing

Find Madeleine.... statement from K & G.





Find Madeleine ‏@findmadeleine 53 mins53 minutes ago
28 April, 2015 - Statement from Gerry and Kate Regarding Libel Case We want to emphasise that the action was... http://fb.me/3Kdifj1dw 

PeterMac wrote:We need to be careful and to go back to the original documents - as always, but here is a quick summary

2 Partly found
3 Dismissed / acquit GA
4 Fully Reject
5 Partly
6 Unfounded
7 Fully reject
8 Fully reject

so a 6:2 WIN for GA with two dodgy goals allowed

McCs to pay 58.3% of the costs,
Ga to pay 41.7 %

in the other action (Books) 50% costs GA / 50% to be be paid by the McCs AND THE TWINS ! ! !

It is not QUITE the story we are being fed by Mitchell through the MSM !

It would be interesting to see which of these "Dismissed, Unfounded, and Fully Rejected" actions involved evidence given by which person/s.
"Fully rejected" is slightly stronger than "on balance the decision is given in favour of X"
It does rather imply that someone has been playing with the Court and tinkering with the 'vérité'.

And as a retired officer GA will have been alert to any Perjury . . .

It also means he only has to Appeal against two decisions, and quantum, not the entire thing

I imagine it is also possible that the McCanns may appeal against the decisions they lost. And so it begins again...

NM @ Adiren M (Algarve) -2hrs.

This is a Political case and the judge was very intelligent to give rope to Amaral to appeal #McCann.

couldn't help but chuckle at the translation

X. Condemn the perpetrators KATE HEALY MARIE McCann, GERALD PATRICK McCann,

PeterMac wrote:couldn't help but chuckle at the translation

X. Condemn the perpetrators KATE HEALY MARIE McCann, GERALD PATRICK McCann,

Will the McCanns sue the translator? Rather a 'libellous' mistranslation?

PeterMac wrote:couldn't help but chuckle at the translation

X. Condemn the perpetrators KATE HEALY MARIE McCann, GERALD PATRICK McCann,

No doubt everyones wish right now.